Special educational needs (SEND) students in Bracknell are set to benefit from £250,000 worth of investment in school and educational facilities in the borough.

The funding is set to be released as part of the Department for Education’s (DfE) Special Pupil Capital Fund.

A report produced for the council read: “This funding is primarily intended to develop provision for pupils with more complex special educational needs in mainstream and/or special schools.

“However, local authorities are free to spend the fund on other education-based provision for children and young people aged from 0 to 25 where this meets local needs, such as early years settings or further education colleges.”

The funding will see Fox Hill Primary School receive £70,000 for a nurture group space, and Harmans Water Primary School will gain £55,000 to further extend and enhance the school's in-house nurture provision.

Bracknell’s Open Learning Centre is set for £70,000 to teach independence skills to 19-25 year olds looking for employment, and £56,000 is set to be used by the Parent Carer Forum to set up a young people’s oasis in partnership with adult social care.

The council received 12 bids from Bracknell SEND or educational institutions, including Edgbarrow School and Kennel Lane School, who both submitted multiple bids.

The 12 bids totalled more than £2.4 million but the council had just more than a tenth of this to distribute.

However it is anticipated that a further £250,000 will be received by the authority in each of the next two years in order to create or improve facilities for SEND students.

The decision to allocate the funding was given by the councillor Dr Gareth Barnard, the executive member for children, young people and learning, on Tuesday, 11 December.

The funding comes after the News revealed last month that five schools in the borough were set to benefit from £143,000 of DfE funding.

The aim of the grant was to improve facilities at Bracknell schools in order to encourage physical and mental wellbeing among pupils.